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by Lisa Russell
When I first decided to try homeschooling; this is what I pictured:
Little genius kids, in argyle sweaters and plaid skirts, pigtails of course,with little ribbons tied to the base, spending each hour of their day engaged in something educational, and speaking Latin and Greek and reciting Shakespeare and debating the merits of capitalism or perhaps the plight of migrant farmworkers - on the way to violin practice. (And various other little scenes that could only happen if I were a super-amazing mom who didn't have a life outside of homeschooling the kids.)
Flash forward to today. Or rather, two days ago and tomorrow.
Two days ago we had the on-stage rehearsal of our homeschool support group's annual talent show. It's a huge production and my kids have been looking forward to participating all year long. Here is roughly how the rehearsal went:
Act #1- Little Mr Beethoven belts out a dramatic piano piece that makes the floor shake.
Act #2- Two boys perform a synchronized karate kata or kada thing with big sticks
Act #3- Amazing teenage girl sings a song half in Hebrew, half in English that was so beautiful it drew me away from my digital scrapbooking andmade my eyes water, and grin all goofy the whole time.
Act #4- Some 5 yr old smarty-pants sings a Latin chant with such perfectpronunciation, and such a pretty little voice, it's amazing
Act #5- A duet of two teenage girls, one on the piano, one on the violin. It was as pretty as anything I have heard on NPR- very well done. Double kick in the head because the violin chick is a gifted ballerina, never fights with her siblings, and is always as sweet as anything.
Act #6- And now here's my kids doing a goofy circus-show skit
Act #7- Here's another one of my kids doing a “Weird-Al” song ("I bought it on ebay," to the tune of the Back Street Boys singing "I want it that way.")
And the night proceeded exactly like that with every child doing some kind of wonderful intellectual performance while mine picked their noses. OK- not entirely true. They weren't picking their noses, but they weren't debating the merits of capitalism either.
Here were my conclusions. Some of these mothers must seriously put way too much work into the whole parenting thing. What 5 yr old would say "OOH- a talent show, Mommy may I sing my Latin homework? Please please please?" No- not at all. I like to think that when my kids do their goofy show they will be the envy ofthe kids whose parents were over-involved. Or at least that no one I like will gossip about it later on.
So what if their parents are looking at me like "WHAT- I thought we were showing off here, you heathen, you permissive lunatic" I'm going to shake it off. My kids picked their own thing. I'm not the mom who does their projects, I'm not the mom who tells them what to perform in the talent show. I am the mom who didn't even know they were planning to do the talent show.
And nothing is wrong with that. Why should I oversee their display of talent? M1 is taking a drama class, and is quite naturally dramatic, so for her to do a skit is a display of talent. E1 is an amazing singer,and while the weird Al song might not be the perfect showcase for her gift of song, it was her choice nonetheless.
Tomorrow night is the official performance. I couldn't leave well enough alone. M2's very best friend in all the world got up on stage and sang twinkle twinkle little star all by herself. I snuck her into the program with the little girl, and now they will be performing together. Nothing is quite as sweet as two 4-yr-olds singing on stage together. She'll be in alittle plaid skirt. With pigtails. And she plans to curtsey at the endof the song. At least I am doing something right.
About the author:
Lisa Russell is the homeschooling mother of six girls, who range in age from 3 months to 14 years. She keeps a blog at http://MrsHannigan.blogspot.com and does a little writing on the side.
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